John F. Kennedy campground (Albuquerque, Los Lunas: house, live, gangs)

[mortimer]

Has anyone been to the JFK campground on the W side of
the Manzanos? It has access to Trigo canyon, Salas canyon,
and Comanche canyon.

I last went there in 1997 when I lived in Albuquerque. Now,
returning, I want to tackle Salas canyon again (and finish the
hike).

I've heard that the campground is now just a trailhead due to
vandalism from Meadow Lake gangs and such.

You can get to Salas via a hike out of Red canyon on the E side,
but you would be hiking about 2.5 miles just to start.

Any updates?

[yukon]

Manzano Wilderness Day Hike — NMWild

Don't know if it helps, but there's a contact listed for the day hike, perhaps he'd know the condition of the park?

[David Ferguson]

Hi,

I don't know if this thread is still getting watched, but I've curious to figure out what is happening with this place. So far I've found little information, but I haven't contacted the State Parks people nor the Forest Service yet.

I have visited this place on and off since about 1980. Some years I visited frequently, others not at all. Through most of that time it was popular and well-frequented place of beauty.

The campground was changed to the status of picnic ground some years ago, and for a while it was run as a closed at night facility. I was told this was due to partying and vandalism by local teenagers, mostly out of Belen and Los Lunas. Until the middle part of this decade it was still a popular, well-frequented area where one could count on running into families, hikers, and even a few bicyclers on any day of the year. It seemed to benefit from the change in status, and with the (for the most part) lack of nighttime activity, became even more beautiful than before. It was a place with water, and with the water came a degree of lushness and biological diversity that is not common in this area.

That seems to have all changed, hopefully not permanently, but it looks bad on the surface of things.

I don't remember which year (perhaps 2005) a sign appeared at the gate to the camp ground that said roughly "temporarily closed due to high fire danger" and the gate was locked with what looked to be a forest service padlock. The gate has never been re-opened to the public, but later that same year you could park and walk up from the gate, which is roughly a mile down the road from the developed area and trail head. Most people saw the gate and left, though you could usually find a few people toughing it out, and still enjoying the place.

In June 2006 things hadn't changed much, though the closed sign was ratty now. There was evidence of recent heavy cattle use, and it was hard to tell if drought or cows were responsible for the overgrazed beat-up look of the place. It rained over 30 inches nearby at my house later that summer, so I suspect that it rained even more in Trigo Canyon, and I was expected to see a luch and beautiful recovery by the next year.

However, such was not the case, and by late in the summer of 2007 the lower gate was still locked shut, and vandalism was extremely heavy. The sign was still there, but was all shot up and not legible, with other signs gone or in the same condition. The facilities (even picnic tables) have been mostly broken up and/or removed, and there is no sign of maintanance of any sort. There was still trash in one of the big bins dating back several years. There was a second lock on the gate belonging to an old local rancher (whom I met), who had a highly beligerant attitude toward visitors, turning them away if he could (I watched him do so on two separate visits), and who treated the campground as if he owned it, patroling it in his big pickup truck. The place was overrun by cattle, smelled like a feedlot, and all palitable vegetation had been trampled, eaten, or stripped of branches. Even though rains had been moderately heavy earlier in 2007 and extremely heavy in the summer of 2006, the semi-permanent stream was apparently dry, and the ground in the stream bed was torn up badly by the cattle. Yet when I dug down, I found that the stream was indeed still flowing, but under the rubble and not on the surface as before. This was true even far up the canyon. There were two dead rotting cows in the canyon bottom about a mile up, and the trail was littered with rotting dead squirrels (I counted at least seven). I'm not sure what the policy for maintanance is there now, but it appears to be non-existant.

Gone, or at least trampled into dust were the lush shrubbery, Columbines, Elephant Flowers, Penstemons, Ferns, and even many of the trees. There were no Pin Cherries, Currants, Rose Hips or Plums anymore. Gone was the little babbling brook. In their place were bare dusty ground with barely any vegetation, and it quite literally stank of death and manure, and swarmed with flies.

Earlier in 2008 there was another big Manzano fire. This time near the head of Trigo canyon, which we all heard about, and which some of us who live nearby watched with great trepidation. It crossed the mountain crest and caused great damage to forest and private property on the east side. I have not hiked up the canyon since to see what was affected high up, but there was no burning in the part of the canyon that used to be frequented by hikers.

In late September 2008 I see that there is a new gate across the access road where it meets the main road (used to be called Millitary), a herd of cattle is standing behind it, and I didn't stop to see if it is locked, but I expect that it is. Not sure when the gate went in (?after the fire), but it would appear that the rancher has taken posession. I could not find access to property that I own just to the north of there because of gates across roads as well.

The place appears to have been abandoned to the cattleman, and it is a disgusting shadow of it's former beauty.

Very disappointing. I would greatly like to see this area managed as part of the Wilderness area it is supposed to belong to, and not as a feed lot.

[WasSoggyInSeattle]

Is it managed by BLM? I know they allow livestock on BLM land - maybe that's what happened?? although, I don't think that it would be closed to the public if it is BLM land - even with cattle on it.

I don't know anything about the area since we are new here but so sad to hear of the demise of such a beautiful place.

[nmnita]

last we heard (about 3 years ago, when someone from the parks dept visited our home owners meeting) it was pretty much closed due to drugs, vandilism, etc. I don't know about it now.

Nita